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Since 1992 there has been a federal law banning state-sanctioned sports gambling throughout the country. One state in particular, New Jersey, has fought this law for the last 6 years, and eventually took it all the way to the Supreme Court.
On Monday, the Supreme Court announced that through a 6-3 vote, the 1992 law banning sports betting, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was unconstitutional.
Sports betting was already a booming and rapidly growing industry with it only being legal in Las Vegas for the last 25 years, but after Monday’s ruling, the floodgates are seemingly open now for various businesses and states to cash in on the profits that come with regulating and taxing sports gambling.
The biggest winner in all of this decision is the state of New Jersey and the casinos and race tracks located throughout that will allow and have sports betting as early as May 31st of this year. Monmouth Park and Atlantic City being the most notable ones ready to go by the 2018 NBA Finals. The state has fought the courts for 6 years ever since New Jersey residents voted to repeal the state’s prohibition against sports gambling. Monday’s decision is the one they’ve fought hard for and should come as a reason for much celebration as Ocean County can use the employment and economic windfall this is going to bring to them.
Not only will New Jersey residents get what they wanted with the ban on sports betting being lifted, but the state stands to benefit immensely from the new tax dollars that will undoubtedly be flooding in as sports betting becomes more and more widely accepted and taxed.
This decision will also greatly benefit many of those who wagered on sports through the black market or underground bookies. Now that sports gambling will be regulated and taxed by the state, it’ll dissuade many amateur sports bettors from using the local bookie, and instead opting for the many casinos and sports books throughout New Jersey giving the state money they needed and providing new jobs that were in the underground economy.
Which brings us to the next big winners from Monday’s ruling to legalize sports betting… The sports books and casinos. While many suspect that this decision will create a lot of competition throughout the industry, which it should eventually, the casinos are in the best position to act fast and capitalize on the change of law almost immediately. In fact Monmouth Racetrack has already built a state of the art sports book in anticipation of this. They have the infrastructure and the resources to start accepting new sports betting customers practically overnight.
Furthermore, since so many casinos throughout the country are subsidiaries of the larger, established casino companies in Las Vegas, they will also stand to benefit greatly from the decision. MGM has also announced that they are ready to put everything in motion right away. In time, the end of the prohibition should create competition for many of these casinos and sports books, but they’re the ones already in place with the know-how and the licensing to get a solid head-start on the rest of the companies looking to move into the industry. In fact MGM’s stock is already up thanks to the news along with the other gaming stocks.
The final winner of the Supreme Court’ ruling are professional sports handicappers. With sports gambling finally receiving the legitimacy it deserves and the acceptance of the mainstream, thousands more will be turning to sports handicapping experts to help them cash in on the games as they sell sports betting information to help bettors gain an edge. Sports handicapping is already a big, billion dollar industry with some of the world’s best sports bettors and handicappers, like Jon Price from Sports Information Traders who is the most notable sports bettor and from the tri-state area. Price is known for making headlines with multi-million dollar wagers on single games and very lucrative futures bets. As more and more people start to see the allure of fast, easy money that sports betting can bring, sports handicappers can expect a large flux of customers seeking their guidance and expertise and no company is more capable to capitalize on it then Prices.
It’ll still may take between 2-5 years for many other states to catch up to the likes of New Jersey and Las Vegas, but Monday’s ruling is no doubt the turning point in sports gambling in America. It’s an exciting future for sports and gambling ahead, and we loo forward to what kind of positive change this monumental law brings and the economic benefit that our home state of New Jersey is going to see from this.
